If “man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever,” surely man’s first business, as lost, guilty, and undone, is to be saved. “Salvation is of the Lord,” says the prophet Jonah; and all that is required for man’s salvation was finished on the cross, says the apostle John, therefore the sinner—the chief of sinners—has only to believe the good news and rest and rejoice therein.
“Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is none else.” Here the invitation approaches the character of a command—of a command to be saved. “Look unto me and be ye saved.” It is not by feeling, realizing, or appropriating, that I am saved; but simply in looking to Jesus as the one who died for me—who died for me just as I am. I am not called to be anything, or to bring anything, or to experience anything, but just what I am, as judged by God, sinful in my nature, and my sins actually committed, innumerable. But, oh! glorious truth! Jesus died for such—“the just for the unjust”—for me, faith exclaims! and God has accepted the mighty sacrifice in my stead, and faith accepts it too, and I stand complete in Him as risen and glorified. See Jonah 2:99But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord. (Jonah 2:9); John 19:3030When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost. (John 19:30); Isa. 45:2222Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else. (Isaiah 45:22).
When man discovers that he is a lost sinner; that his sins bring burning wrath and banishment from God’s presence forever and ever; that by no supposed goodness, or good works, can he meet his righteous requirements, or satisfy the fair demands of His holy law; he is sure to have hard thoughts of God, and to wish in his heart that there were no God to judge, and no hell to punish. But when he is brought to listen to the gospel of peace, and hears that God so loved the world—a world of lost sinners—that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life; he finds out two things, namely, that the very hopelessness of his condition establishes his title to the love of God and the work of Christ. And what more does he need—can he need? the love of God and the work of Christ. God loves me—Christ died for me—so loves me. What is its measure? the gift, sufferings, death of Jesus. He died for me, in my stead; that I should not perish, but have everlasting life. Christ has met all God’s claims—all my necessities—He not only suffered for my actual “sins” but made an end of “sin”—my evil nature. God has thus judged both our “sin” and “sins,” and put all away as corrupt—all that belongs to our fallen nature is gone and gone forever. Heb. 10:1717And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. (Hebrews 10:17) Pet. 3:18.
But the young believer, in his musings on the love of God and the work of Christ, must not rest here. Too many content themselves with only half a gospel, and that the human half; or, rather, with the human side of the gospel. It is said, that Christ having died for us, we are pardoned and accepted when we believe, in virtue of His death, and will surely go to heaven when we die. This is true, and precious truth so far as it goes. But it is not the whole truth, and must come short of perfect peace with God. When Christ “made an end of sin” on the cross—which means our old nature—that was really making an end of the old nature and all that belonged to it; consequently, the believer has the privilege of knowing, not only that Christ died for him, but that he died in Christ’s death—that the whole system in which he stood, as a man and as a sinner—as a child of the first Adam—has been abolished. But if we died in His death, we also rose in His resurrection. “ For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection. Knowing that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.” Rom. 6:5, 65For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: 6Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. (Romans 6:5‑6).
This is the only true ground of peace. There is nothing against the believer here. Sin, root and branch, has been judged, and the risen Lord has introduced him into a new position, in association with Himself, and there he stands complete in Him before God; free from all charge of sin, and free from all fear of judgment; “For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.” Nothing less meets the full need of the sinner, the presence of God, and the glory of the great Workman. John 5:2424Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. (John 5:24); Rom. 8:22For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:2).
Surely man’s first business is to be saved—saved according to the love of God, and the work of Christ. Has my reader thought of this, or has he neglected it? No question of equal importance can come before thee in this life; nothing can justify thy delay; nothing can be admitted as an excuse—all things are ready—all that is required for thy salvation is done, thou hast only to rest in that finished and accepted work. And this should be thy first business. “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” Mark 8:3636For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? (Mark 8:36).